Curiosity -- Saying Yes

Jan, 8, 2010 — -- As we begin the new year, it is good to reflect on what is most important in our spiritual quest. For example, perseverance is often emphasized as an essential aspect of the spiritual life. But perseverance is not enough by itself. With perseverance alone, it is tempting to become almost militant and stoic in our efforts. So to balance our spiritual practice, to keep it from becoming almost grim at times, we also have to cultivate the softer quality of curiosity.

Curiosity means that we're willing to explore unknown territory -- the places the ego doesn't want to go. Being truly curious means we're willing to say "Yes" to our experience, even the hard parts, instead of indulging the "No" of our habitual resistance.

Saying Yes doesn't mean we like our experience, or that we necessarily feel accepting. It doesn't even mean that we override the No. It simply means we're no longer resisting the people, things and fears that we don't like. Instead, we're learning to open to them in order to simply experience what's actually going on, minus all of our judgments about it.

A key aspect of the spiritual life is the willingness to be with our life as it is. But, in a way, this is a difficult concept to comprehend: that spiritual practice is not about having a particular state of mind, such as calmness; nor is it about being free from problems. Furthermore, understanding this intellectually is very different from understanding it when we're actually facing a difficulty.

This is not to deny that through spiritual practice we will, in fact, experience more equanimity, and that problems will not seem so burdensome. But, ironically, when we demand that life be a particular way, it almost guarantees the opposite -- a continuing state of unease and dissatisfaction.

The deeply ingrained human attitude that we need to be free from problems is really one of our greatest problems. For example, when something unpleasant happens, we'll almost always react from the deeply held belief that life should be free from discomfort and pain. We might not even be conscious of having this sense of entitlement, but because we believe it, it colors how we relate to reality.